French energy giant Total is facing legal action over allegations of torture at a natural gas project in Yemen. The company is under fire over its claimed failure to comply with due diligence obligations related to alleged human rights violations committed at the complex.
Geneva-based MENA Rights Group in February announced that it was filing a complaint with the Court of Justice in Paris. The lawsuit alleges that two individuals were subjected to secret detention and torture by Emirati forces at the Balhaf gas complex in the governorate of Shabwah. Total is a minority shareholder in Yemen LNG, the company running the project, with a 39.6% stake.
Basis for action
The case against Total is based on its alleged failure to implement its commitments under French law. Speaking to Amwaj.media, MENA Rights Group’s legal advisor Alexis Thiry stated that his organization believes Total “did not comply with due diligence obligations” under Law No. 399 of 2017. He said the legislation prescribes “duty of care” responsibilities for “parent companies in cases when grave human rights violations occur,” and also details redress and compensation mechanisms.
The French law demands that companies produce a “vigilance plan” which details measures taken to identify risks and prevent violations of human, environmental, and social rights. Thiry told Amwaj.media that his NGO is demanding compensation for the two alleged survivors of the claimed torture. MENA Rights Group is calling for Balhaf’s inclusion in Total’s vigilance plan to try to prevent the repetition of the alleged rights violations.
Production has been halted at the site since 2015 amid the conflict in Yemen. But Total has said it continues to fund Yemen LNG company to preserve the complex and maintain water and electricity supply to local areas.
Yemen’s government requisitioned the compound in Mar. 2017, with Emirati armed forces establishing a military base on part of the site to launch counter-terrorism operations in Shabwah. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2015 joined Saudi Arabia in a military coalition to reinstate the internationally recognized government in Sana’a after the Ansarullah movement—better known as the Houthis—seized the capital and other areas.
Allegations that Balhaf could be a site of abuse are not new. Various NGOs and media have claimed rights violations at the complex, including alleged arbitrary arrests and torture. A UN human rights panel in 2019 also identified the location as part of a “network of detention facilities,” specifically highlighting a risk of enforced disappearances. Thiry told Amwaj.media that despite this, Total continues to exclude the site from its vigilance plan.
The story of one alleged survivor
Amwaj.media spoke to one of the two alleged survivors of claimed rights violations at Balhaf and on whose behalf MENA Rights Group has lodged the complaint. For privacy reasons, his name has been withheld along with details of the case which may identify him. Of note, Amwaj.media cannot independently verify any of the allegations that have been made.
The alleged survivor stated that he was first arrested at a checkpoint in 2018 and then transferred to Balhaf. He further alleged that he was subsequently detained at a secret location at the site along with other prisoners who he described as having been there for weeks or even months. The individual said he was kept “in poor and deplorable conditions” for 17 days.
According to the alleged survivor, his treatment at the complex included “beating, isolation torture, and deprivation of the most basic legal rights.” He charged that the latter was carried out in a claimed attempt “to extract our confessions,” with his alleged captors using “the abuse and humiliation of our human dignity” in the absence of evidence against him.
The alleged survivor stated that he was later transferred to several other jails and informal detention centers in Yemen where he claims to have been interrogated by Emirati and other forces. According to the individual, he was “held in a concrete solitary confinement cell, with a metal ceiling, that did not have a toilet.”
The alleged detainee told Amwaj.media that during his claimed ordeal he “preferred death” or even contemplated suicide due to what he described as having experienced. Upon his release, the individual claimed, his alleged captors simply dumped him on the side of a road.
The alleged survivor told Amwaj.media that through the current lawsuit he hoped to “have a legal document and judicial authority [ruling] to prove my arbitrary detention [and] enforced disappearance.” He said he hoped for both “material and moral restitution,” saying this was the least he deserved amid his “wasted human rights and dignity in these secret jails.”
As for the second alleged survivor, he is claimed to have been arrested in June 2019 and detained in Balhaf for months, where MENA Rights Group charges that he was severely tortured. Like the first claimed survivor, he was also allegedly transferred to other detention centers before finally being released in 2021.
Legal precedence
MENA Rights Group legal advisor Thiry explained that this is the first civil case his organization has taken to court. He noted that Total has faced other judicial action based on the 2017 law over a mining project in Uganda, although in February a court dismissed that specific case on procedural grounds. Of note, several other French companies including BNP Paribas face proceedings related to their duty of vigilance.
Amwaj.media asked Thiry why Total was being targeted with a court case rather than entities allegedly involved in the claimed arrest, enforced disappearance, and torture incidents in Yemen. In his view, “Holding all involved parties accountable is very hard since there is no effective [route] to redress [alleged rights violations].” He charged that the French law’s due diligence standards were “the most relevant and possibly the only path forward to address violations recorded in Balhaf.”
He also noted that MENA Rights Group had filed a complaint with the UN human rights office over the case. This led to UN officials sending letters to the UAE, US, and Yemen surrounding the allegations, but that none of the countries had responded to the concerns at the time of writing.
Total’s response
Amwaj.media did, however, receive a response from Total regarding the case. In February, the French giant stated that “as a minority shareholder, Total energy company does not have a controlling stake in the Yemen LNG company.” Although it acknowledged the prescriptions of the French law on duty of care, the statement said Total’s lack of overall ownership meant “it is outside the scope of our vigilance plan.”
In its response to Amwaj.media, Total further elaborated that “the situation in Yemen is, of course, a source of concern for our company, and in compliance with the company’s code of conduct, we place respect for human rights at the heart of our operations.” It said it had “voiced concern to the Yemen LNG company and urged it to investigate the incident with Yemeni authorities.”
MENA Rights Group received the same response in 2022 when it sent the French company an official notice regarding the alleged violations in Balhaf. Thiry countered to Amwaj.media that Total’s existing commercial relationship with Yemen LNG, which once included the production and export of gas from the site, meant the case did fall under the energy giant’s responsibilities.
With most routes for legal accountability over the claimed rights violations blocked, the alleged survivors and MENA Rights Group will be hoping the 2017 French law provides a way forward.
| Themes |
| • Armed / ethnic conflict • Displaced • Displacement • Extraterritorial obligations • Human rights • International • Legal frameworks • Regional • UN HR bodies |
